Handcrafted jewellery and crafts

Steampunk Birthday Card

There is something quite satisfying about starting out with some plain white card die cuts and turning them into corroded metal looking embellishments. This was what I started playing with on the craft mat yesterday and then I decided to use them in a steampunk birthday card.

For the insert, I took one piece of the 14cm decorative paper. I stamped a distressed border around all 4 edges and a sentiment with Perfect Medium before heat embossing with the copper embossing powder. Using double sided tape, I attached this panel to the inside of the card blank.

Next, I took the teal coloured card and I gutted it (removed the central part with a cutting die – saved for a future project); and stuck this onto the front of the card blank, leaving an equal border around it.

Taking the second piece of the decorative paper, I used the clocks stamp and stamped the image in random places over the paper using Perfect Medium. I didn’t use an acrylic block for this, as I wanted a patchy spread of the design. I then sprinkled some of the 3 colours of Perfect Pearls over the top and, using a soft brush, made sure that it covered the whole of the stamped area, before brushing off the excess powder. The Perfect Pearls give a gentle shine and some interest to the paper without being overpowering.

Using the same distressed border as I used for the insert, I stamped this around the edges of the paper before heat embossing with the same copper embossing powder as before. I then stuck this paper on top of the teal card on the card blank.

For the sentiment, I stamped and heat embossed the word “Birthday” onto a piece of the decorative paper. I then die cut this using the smallest stitched rectangular die, before using the next size up die to cut a mat for this from the teal coloured card. I stuck the sentiment to the mat with foam tape, to add some dimension.

For the cogs, I die cut a number of cogs from the scraps of white card left from creating the card blank. I then covered the cogs with the Nuvo glue and sprinkled some Copper embossing powder over them. I then heated them to melt the powder. What I like about using glue instead of Perfect Medium for this technique is that it bubbles, which creates a lovely organic texture when it dries.

I then took a variety of colours of acrylic paint and, using my finger, I tapped some of each colour onto random parts of the cogs before setting aside to dry.

Once dry, I used the black Archival ink on the very edges, to dirty the elements up a bit; before adding some touches of the gilding wax in random areas to add some metallic shine.

I stuck a few cogs onto the card front with the Nuvo glue pen and used Pinflair glue gel to raise up the rest of the cogs up, to add more interest.

I used foam tape to attach the sentiment to the front of the card, adding yet more dimension. To finish, I placed random dots of the Enamel Accents, Crystal Drops and Stickles, to tie the whole project in together.

I hope that you liked this project. If you did, please follow me on this blog or find me on Facebook and please share with other crafty friends.

If you are interested in buying this card, it is listed for sale in my Etsy store: https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/535010167/steampunk-cogs-birthday-card